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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

C.J. Wilson is enjoying his breakout season as a starting pitcher with the Texas Rangers with a 2.88 ERA but a 3.58 FIP. He's been good but also lucky with a .257 BABIP. What I didn't realize is that the left hander is also an expert on pitching mechanics. Wilson apparently called Stephen Strasburg's need for Tommy John surgery well before the first MRI...

"I was sitting in Baltimore [Saturday] watching and I said he needed Tommy John," Wilson said. "I saw it before it happened.

"I saw him moving his arm around, and then the way his arm was rebounding after his throw. When you see a guy with a healthy arm it just works a certain way. When you see something that isn't healthy, it's very obvious to the trained eye."

That's an impressive talent he has to foresee devastating elbow injuries before they happen. Of course, he goes on to say that every pitcher will get hurt except for Mariano Rivera because he has perfect mechanics. I suppose there's something to Wilson's theory though and he surely knows more about pitching than I do. We've all heard that the human arm isn't designed to throw a baseball and especially not 100 MPH. But I won't feel like a genius for predicting Aroldis Chapman's Tommy John surgery (it's September 19 and I will feel like a genius).

Wilson is familiar with the big TJ as he underwent the surgery in 2003. The Rangers pitched Wilson out of the bullpen until this year and it has work out well for them. As valuable as Wilson has been on the field, he might have some added value off the field where he has a knack for predicting injuries and successful surgeries...

"Everybody's going to get hurt eventually. Some guys, it's going to be their hip or their oblique or their ankle. People said Strasburg had perfect mechanics. He didn't.